The Devil character is an homage to Robert Wiene's character Dr. Caligari, and often mimics motions from Wiene's film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920).
The main character Prokofiev (and subsequently chosen title) is named after the composer Sergei Prokofiev, whose composition "Monatgues and Caplets" was an inspiration for the film and is also performed in the film the first time The Devil is seen.
Sergei Prokofiev, the initial inspiration for the film, was a Russian composer, who is known for writing the original score for Sergei Eisenstein's film Alexander Nevsky (1938).
In the first shot of The Dueling Table, if you look closely you can see Prokofiev's game piece fall over. This happened accidentally while shooting, and predicts the inevitable outcome of the game.
A challenging shoot, the film makers had a tough task - to do things wrong. In order to mimic the elementary techniques of early film makers, they used very little camera movement, well placed soft focus, and deliberate changes in exposure.